Castaways
by essential.invisible
Summary: When their routine boarding goes awry, Kate and the boarding party find themselves stranded on Lightning, while miles away, the Hammersley crew respond to an urgent mayday unaware of the danger that their shipmates are facing. Ensemble piece, mid to late S3.
1. Chapter 1

**summary; **when their routine boarding goes awry, Kate and the boarding party find themselves stranded on Lightning, while miles away, the Hammersley respond to an urgent mayday unaware of the danger that their shipmates are facing.

**characters;** ensemble cast - Kate, Buffer, Swain, 2Dads, Bomber, Mike, Nav, Charge, RO

**timeline;** mid to late S3.

**Castaways**

**:::**

**RHIB; call sign Lightning**

**Location: Coral Sea **

**1543 hours**

It takes them a while to realize the Hammersley isn't coming.

Bomber is the first to voice it, her natural exuberance subdued. "It's been a while – shouldn't they have been here by now?"

Kate exchanges a glance with Buffer, before shading her eyes as she looked out over the horizon. She'd cracked the visor on her helmet during the initial scuffle on the SIEV, and her cap had been ripped off her DPNU at some point during the second struggle. The heat from the sun is intense, and she can feel a headache coming on. At least her clothes have dried out, though her boots still feel damp. "You heard the boss, Bomb, they were heading back to us as soon as they responded to the mayday call."

Although she sounds confident, Kate feels nothing of the sort. Hammersley was at least 90 minutes off schedule for their rendezvous, and their radios had stopped working long before that. The RHIB's engine is shot through, and she has the sinking suspicion that they've been drifting in the water, carried away from their original position by the currents. She can't see the debris from the SIEV anymore, regardless.

"Well how long is that going to take?" 2Dads cuts in. "Plus, we've got both Swaino and Bomber on Lightning with us, what are they going to do if they need a medic?"

"Thanks for putting that out there, mate." Swain doesn't look too impressed, and she can't blame him. She doesn't want to think of that either, nor about the blowback that they're bound to get. Having the XO, buffer and coxswain off the ship for a boarding party was routine – but as she glances at her watch, Kate realizes that they've been off the Hammersley for over six hours now. They'd boarded the SIEV at 0933 hours this morning, and it was nearing 1600. They're all ship-stoppers by themselves – having all three of them off the ship for so long wasn't going to look too good when Mike made his reports.

"No worries Swaino," 2Dads shoots back and adjusts his cap. "Man, it is hot out here!"

"Can we lose the boarding jackets and Kevlar, X?" Kate looks at Bomber, and then the rest of her team. Buffer looks as unruffled as ever, Swain much the same. 2Dads is clearly uncomfortable, but poor Bomber seems to be hit by the heat the hardest. She glances over the horizon, eyes scanning for danger.

"Yeah, but one at a time guys, and the life-jackets go straight back on." She cautions them, knowing that the reminder isn't really necessary.

Bomber sighs in relief, pointing a finger at 2Dads when he makes a move to take his vest off. "Uh-uh, 2Dads, I'm going first."

"C'mon Bomb, I'm melting here!"

"2Dads," Bomber starts, and simply stares at the blond, who sighs.

"Go on then, Bomber. Hurry it up though!"

While the junior sailors duke it out, Kate turns to Buffer. His fingers tap rhythmically against the inflated hull, a heavy, dull thumping. "Give up smoking again, Buff?" She ignores his flat stare, and smiles. "How're we looking?" She motions to the GPS.

"Not too good, X." He beckons her closer, and she carefully shifts across, her vision swimming a little. She's not sure how much damage her ribs had taken, and she doesn't want to make anything worse. Though as she stares at the cracked facing of their GPS unit, she's not sure how much worse it can get.

"Well, shit," she says almost absently, missing Swain's hastily muffled snort. "That's not good."

"We're drifting, aren't we?" Swain's voice is muted as he pulls his Kevlar vest off, ignoring 2Dads' cry of protest. Kate spares the younger sailor a glance, and motions for him to continue.

"My best estimate?" Kate squints up at the sun, then looks west. "We've been drifting south-east of our starting point – we're about fifteen to twenty degrees and at least three miles off where we're meant to be." She looks pointedly at Buffer, who makes no move to remove his vest.

"You first X, you've gotta be dying under there." Kate's not going to argue the point. She knows when to pick her battles with Buffer, and this isn't one of them.

"Three miles isn't that bad, is it?" Bomber queries, sighing in relief as a small breeze hits her. She's stripped off her DPNU shirt, and looks fairly comfortable in her regulation t-shirt under her life-vest. Kate idly looks down at her own DPNU, before deciding to keep it on. She burns far too easily, and the last thing she needs to be dealing with is sunburn.

"It depends," Kate starts. "Distance wise, we're not too far off, but the heading change will throw them off when looking at a search radius."

"They'd factor the current in, though, right, X?" She gives 2Dads a surprised look. "Hey, I can navigate!"

"What, out of the harbour?" Buffer smirks at the look of affront on 2Dads face, before the blond relents.

"Okay, maybe I've just picked up on what the X says when she's planning out a search." He adjusts the cap on his head again, before looking back at Kate. "You okay there X? That shiner doesn't look too good."

"Thanks, 2Dads," Kate grumbles. She'd actually managed to forget about the dull throbbing in her cheek and under her eye, though 2Dads words had just acted as reminder for her brain.

"I should probably take a proper look at that, X." Swain manoeuvres across the RHIB, kneeling in front of her. He'd given them all a quick once over after the initial boarding, but hasn't had a chance since. Kate hisses as his fingers move swiftly across her cheek, before he pulls a Maglite from his DPNU. "Doesn't look like you've cracked your cheekbone, though from the look of your pupils, I'd say you probably have a concussion."

"I'm fine Swaino," she starts, and then stops at his unimpressed look. "Okay, so maybe I have a little headache." She supposes it explained the occasional blur and the nausea. She hasn't been seasick since her first patrol on the Hammersley, her stomach used to the stable frigates. The Fremantle-class Hammersley had almost felt like a bath toy during those first few days, her nausea not helped by the constant churning in her stomach from seeing Mike again.

"Did you hit your head against anything?" She feels his hands move carefully over her hair, feeling for any bumps.

"Must've been after you took that first guy down, X." Bomber chimes in.

"Maybe after I took my helmet off, but it was such a – ow!" She glares at Swain as he presses down on the back of her head.

"Yeah, you must have knocked it against something, there's a bit of swelling there."

"Is it serious?" She can feel Buffer's concerned gaze on her, and smiles reassuringly. He doesn't look reassured.

"Any other symptoms? Blurred vision, nausea, vertigo?" Swain holds up the Maglite again, shining the torch into her eyes. "Look up."

She follows his instructions dutifully, though moving her eyes around so quickly isn't doing her stomach any favours. "Uh, nausea, and a bit of blurred vision." She blinks as he flicks the torch off, feeling like the light has seared her retinas. "I'm fine!" She throws out, though she can see that neither Buffer nor Swain are buying it.

"So how are we going to explain all of this to the boss, anyway?" Bomber asks, breaking the silent stare down between Kate and Swain.

"Blame 2Dads." Buffer puts forward the idea with a smirk.

"Yeah, I could go with that." Swain agrees, and Kate stifles a laugh at 2Dads expression.

"Uh-uh, not a chance! This was in no way my fault!"

"For once," Bomber adds slyly. Kate does laugh then, and regrets it immediately as the nausea rises. Not moving was looking like a better plan. She's not looking forward to explaining to Mike what a mess this mission had turned into.

"There were five of us, all armed – Browning's and the semi's. Boss is going to want to know how they managed to shoot out Lightning's engine, and get away on the zodiac." 2Dads pats the gun in his leg holster, as if to reassure himself that it's still there.

"Well, the SIEV wasn't a SIEV."

"Yeah, no kidding Swaino," Buffer interrupts. "What gave it away, the armed mercenaries, the bullet proof armour or the hold full of drugs?"

Swain rolls his eyes. "I'm just saying, we were expecting a group of unarmed civilians, not drug smugglers."

"We should have been prepared for anything, regardless of what we were expecting." Kate says, her voice quiet.

"C'mon X, it was a routine inspection of a SIEV."

She knows that Swain is just trying to make her feel better, but it's not exactly helpful now. "We had everyone secure on the boat deck after the initial resistance. We were comfortable enough that we agreed with Hammersley leaving us behind to wait while they answered the mayday." She runs through the events of the boarding, searching for when it had gone so horribly wrong. "2Dads was down below, cataloguing the drugs with Bomber."

"You were in the wheelhouse, and Swain was patching up one of the mercenaries." Buffer recounts, his fingers drumming faster. "I was keeping an eye on the rest of the boat deck." He scowls, his face darkening. "I didn't hear the zodiac coming."

"None of us did, Buff." Kate tries valiantly to swallow down the nausea, and then swiftly turns and retches over the side of the RHIB.

"X!"

She can feel someone's hands gripping the back of her vest, preventing her from keeling over the edge, while someone else holds her hair out of her face. "Ugh," she groans as the nausea subsides, grimacing at the taste of bile in her mouth.

"Here," she blinks at Swain as his face swims back into focus. She opens her mouth gratefully as he carefully tilts the water bottle towards her, pulling back as she rinses her mouth out. She takes a small sip, not wanting to set herself off again, and relaxes a little as the water does nothing but soothe her throat.

"You okay, X?" Bomber sounds anxious. The two junior sailors are sitting on the other end of Lightning, looking back at her.

"I'm alright, Bomb, thanks." Kate ignores Swain's raised eyebrow – there isn't anything he can do about it right now, so there's no use dwelling on it. The dull throb in her ribs hasn't gotten any worse, so she doesn't think it's serious enough to warrant any more poking or prodding. "There were what, two POB on the zodiac?"

"Yeah. Bastards snuck up on me." Buffer's voice is grim.

"They took us all by surprise, mate." Swain sounds rueful. "You'd gone down to see what was taking 2Dads and Bomber so long, the X was coming down to the boat-deck, and then all hell broke loose."

"It was my fault." Kate admits, and closes her eyes. She doesn't want to see them agree with her. "I was caught off guard, and the guy had a gun to my head before I knew he was there."

"Could've been any one of us, X." She blinks, and then smiles gratefully at Buffer. She can see that he truly believes it, that he's not just giving her empty platitudes. It does help.

"What I don't get is why they didn't kill us?" 2Dads muses. "I mean, they could've done it easy as." None of the senior sailors look amused by the insinuation that they'd have been an easy mark, and he hastily adds, "not that we wouldn't have gone down fighting, I'm just saying…"

"Killing five Navy sailors?" Buffer shakes his head. "Would've brought too much heat to them."

"They left us with our weapons," Bomber points out. She's not wrong, they still have all their guns.

"Yeah, but you weren't likely to fire on the zodiac while they had me on board," Kate adds. "Once they shot out the motor, and the SIEV was sunk, you were basically stranded." She touches the bruise on her cheekbone instinctively. The asshole had punched her again, before pitching her overboard as soon as the RHIB had been out of sight. "Shit." She says under her breath, looking around at the position of the sun more carefully.

"What?"

"When I went into the water," she glances between Buffer and Swain, who look none too happy at the reminder.

"Yeah, not gonna lie, X, we're lucky that we found you out there. Without the engine, and only one paddle, we were pretty much going around in circles." Buffer shakes his head. "You're even luckier that you swum back in the right direction."

Seeing the RHIB coming over the horizon had been a relief. She'd been disoriented, the multiple hits to the head having done a number on her. Kate's usually impeccable sense of direction had been shot. They'd heaved her out of the water, the buoyancy of the life jacket, while helping to keep her afloat, not affecting the waterlogged Kevlar. She'd been lucky the weight of it hadn't dragged her down – if she'd lost consciousness with that second blow, she'd have been a goner. "Yeah, but what with you paddling out to meet me," she pauses, before she sucks it up and gives them the bad news. "I have no idea how far off course we are."

"Didn't you say earlier - "

"Yeah, but I didn't factor this in," Kate says, cutting 2Dads off. She resists the urge to bury her face in her hands. She's the XO, she can handle this. She has to.

"The zodiac was going south." Swain sounds resigned, and she can see that he's come to the same realization that she had.

"What does that mean?" Bomber asks.

Kate makes a note to go over the basics of navigation with her when they get back on to the Hammersley. "It means that we're probably much further away from where we're meant to be, and that they're likely to miss us in the first sweep." She gives the brunette what she hopes is a reassuring look. "They'll need to widen the search parameters, and we're likely to be picked up on their next sweep."

"Which means we're on our own for a little longer than we'd thought." Buffer turns to her, "we should take stock of our supplies, X."

"Yeah." She looks at the RHIB, assessing. Thunder and Lighting were stocked with the basic survival kits, so they at least had some water and food. It wouldn't last long, though they could stretch it out with the rat packs they all had in their bags. "How are we for ammo?" It's crossed her mind that the zodiac could swing back, that the drug runners may decide that they were better off leaving no witnesses. She regrets letting them take their Kevlar off. "Kevlar back on guys."

"Two full clips for my Browning, four left in the third," Buffer slides his gun smoothly back into its holster and reaches for Kate's. "Looks like you've got three in here, and what, two full clips?" She nods. The others chime in, their responses pretty much the same. The semi-automatics are half-empty, though they have spare magazines.

"At least we can shoot any sharks that coming looking, hey?" 2Dads says.

"Always with the glass half-full, 2Dads." Swain chuckles as they all instinctively look to the water.

Kate frowns. The ocean hasn't exactly been steady while they've been on the RHIB, but she thinks the swells are getting bigger. "Uh, Buff?"

"I see it, X."

Kate looks out over the horizon again, frowning. While the sun is still intense, she can see the darkening clouds just barely visible on the edge of the horizon. She reaches for Buffer's radio, her own lying useless at the bottom of the RHIB. "Charlie-82 this is X-ray-82, come in." She shrugs at the look he gives her. "Was worth a shot."

"X, is it just me, or is the current stronger?"

"Not just you 2Dads." She purses her lips, racks her brain, thinking back to the charts she'd studied before they'd prepared the boarding party. There'd been an island or two on there, but for the life of her she can't remember which direction they'd been situated. The pounding in her head is stronger, almost keeping rhythm with Buffer's fingers, which have resumed their tapping against the RHIB.

"Well, we're safe in Lightning, right?" Bomber gestures to the RHIB. "She's pretty much unsinkable, isn't she?"

Swain groans, shaking his head. "Way to go Bomb, you may as well have said, 'what could possibly go wrong?'"

"Now you've done it Swaino," Buffer points out.

"Hey, as long as Lightning doesn't get hit by lightning, we'll be fine." 2Dads laughs, though it quickly fades as the RHIB rocks in time with the swell. "So the Hammersley should be looking for us right now, yeah?"

"Yeah, 2Dads." Kate glances down at her watch. 1609. "Bit later than we might like, but they'll get here."

"Yeah," Buffer agrees.

They sit in silence after that, keeping a wary eye out at the increasingly choppy water and the darkening sky.

:::

**HMAS Hammersley**

**Location: Arafura Sea **

**1240 hours**

"How're we looking Nav?" Mike pulls the binoculars away, turning to look back at Nav.

"Uh, nothing on the radar, sir, but we're coming up to the co-ordinates that NAVCOM sent through."

"Okay. Charge, prep a RHIB. I want this squared away before we turn back for the SIEV and our crew. Nav, pipe boarding stations."

Mike watches as his crew follow his orders, before shifting his gaze to RO. "Anything new from Coast Guard, RO?"

"No sir. Though they should have come up on our radar by now, sir."

Mike agrees. The mayday call had come through well over an hour ago. While the vessel may have gone down, there should have been signs. "No EPIRB signal?"

RO shakes his head. "Not yet, sir." He hesitates, before continuing. "Ship's manifest had three POB, according to NAVCOM. If the boat went down fast, they may not have had a chance to get to it, if they even had one in the first place."

Mike cuts him off before he can build up steam. "Well, Thunder's out there now, looking around. If there's something to be found, they'll find it."

Three hours later, he thinks he's spoken far too soon. They'd found one body in the water, and no signs of the ship, or the two other POB. Marshall has them sitting tight to wait for handover to AFP.

"Boss, AFP are still another hour out." RO calls out, pulling his headset off.

Mike frowns. They've already been away from their boarding party longer than he'd have liked and have missed their initial rendezvous with the SIEV. Another hour of waiting, maybe half that in handover – "Nav, how long will it take for us to get back to the SIEV?"

"In current conditions, at full speed, maybe 90 minutes?"

He can hear the hesitation in her voice. "What is it?"

"There's a storm coming up on their end, Boss. We'll have to ride through it."

Which means slower speeds, a later rendezvous time. He trusts Kate, and the rest of the team on the SIEV, but he can't help the feeling in his gut. "ETA?"

"Factoring in the storm, we should rendezvous with the SIEV at just after 2000."

Mike scowls. That's four hours from now. His gut clenches, and he turns to the radio. "X-Ray-82, this is Charlie-82, over." He waits for a reply, even as he knows they're too far away to get a signal. "X-Ray-82, this is Charlie-82. If you can hear us, we're going to be a little late in coming to pick you up. Hang tight, we'll see you just after 2000."

He puts the radio down, and rakes a hand through his hair. He shifts, turns to look between RO and Charge. "With Bomber out on the boarding party, someone needs to man the galley. RO?"

Charge and RO both protest, though for entirely different reasons. "Co-opt Rhino, I hear he can make a mean spag-bol." Mike smiles as RO huffs.

"Yes sir."

Mike turns to look over the bridge. "We're coming X, hang tight." He repeats to himself almost silently, though he can feel Nav's stare. When he looks at her though, she's staring diligently into the radar. "Something to add, Nav?"

"No, sir. Was just thinking Bomber's red curry sounded good right about now."

He nods, not really buying it, before settling in to wait.

Four hours to go.

:::


	2. Chapter 2

**an: **thanks for the feedback/reviews

:::

**Lightning**

**Location: Coral Sea**

**1746 hours**

Kate swallows down the nausea as the RHIB moves, riding the crest of the wave as the swells batter them around. She fights the urge to look down at her watch again, and instead keeps her eyes focused on the darkened sky. The wind has picked up, and they've been getting lashed by sea spray for a good hour now.

"X, we just going to ride this out?" Bomber calls out, the wind whipping her hair across her face.

Kate exchanges a glance with Swain. There are no good decisions here. The Hammersley should have picked them up by now, or at the least, have come into range with the Motorola's. The RHIB must be significantly off course by now, and she's lost her bearings.

"No other choice, Bomber." She calls back. The wind howls, and she shivers. She's soaked through again, and miserable with it. They all are. Even 2Dads has stopped cracking jokes. She casts her mind back to the charts, hoping inspiration will strike.

"The storm's picking up."

Kate looks at 2Dads and Bomber. The two junior sailors are catching the worst of the pitching swells, seated near the bow. 2Dads is leaning against the bars, looking out at the sea. As if in agreement, they hear the ominous rumble of thunder, and the rain starts pouring down. It's ice cold on her skin and she gasps involuntarily.

"Way to go 2Dads!" Bomber says, though there is no heat to her tone.

Kate ignores their byplay and stares at her feet. Already, the rain is pooling at the bottom of the RHIB, licking at the soles of her boots. "Okay." She takes a deep breath, wincing as she feels the pull on her ribs. "Okay." She repeats under her breath, before raising it so the others can hear her. "On the charts, there were a small group of islands. From what I can tell, we've been moving in their general direction." She looks between Swain and Buffer. "If the current, and wind don't change direction, we should hit land soon." She hopes.

"How general, is general?" Swain asks her quietly.

"General," she says, her voice just as low. "Look, we've been tossed around a lot. Between that, and the fact that we were off course to begin with…" she trails off, shrugs. "General," she repeats.

"We can work with that." Buffer moves his feet, and they watch the water swirl. They don't have much of a choice.

:::

**HMAS Hammersley**

**Location: Arafura Sea**

**1840 Hours**

"Sir, I have NAVCOM on the line." RO calls out. The boss picks up the sat phone and listens as Marshall talks, his face becoming grimmer as the conversation wears on.

Nikki exchanges a glance with Charge, before she turns back to the radar screen. The search for the two missing sailors has been called off, though they're still motionless, waiting for the AFP to arrive.

"This doesn't make any sense." She turns to see that RO has left his seat and is standing in between her and Charge.

"What doesn't, RO?" Nikki asks, not entirely sure she wants to know.

"We're on a multi-million-dollar warship, and instead of being out there, doing our jobs, we're just sitting here, babysitting a dead man!"

"What do the feds want with this guy, anyway?" Charge asks. "He drowned – they're not usually interested enough to warrant us waiting here."

Nikki is about to reply when the boss loudly slams the phone into its cradle. "Sir?"

"AFP are unable to rendezvous with us tonight and have requested that we sit tight until tomorrow. NAVCOM have agreed."

She is sure they can all hear the barely veiled frustration in his voice, and isn't surprised when Charge interrupts. "Boss, the boarding party? We can't leave them on that SIEV all night. We were meant to pick them up hours ago."

"That storms kicked in as well, Boss." Nikki isn't usually one for stating the obvious, but – "are we sure the SIEV can handle it?" She thinks back to the SIEV – the boat had looked weather-beaten, though Buffer and 2Dads had said the boat was still sea-worthy.

The boss stares out the window. "As of right now, we don't have a choice. They're going to have to ride out the storm overnight."

"RO's right, sir. Why are we babysitting a dead man for the feds?" Charge asks. "They could pick up the body once we've picked up the crew."

The boss shifts. "I did put that out there with the Commander." Nikki winces – she can imagine how well that would have gone over, even if Marshall seems to like the boss. "He didn't say, though from what I can gather, the Dancing Lady had some cargo that interested the feds. I don't know any more than that."

"Wonder what it is?" Charge muses.

Nikki shrugs. "My guess would be drugs." She looks back at the radar, before sweeping her eyes over the clear expanse of the sea before her. The sun is out, the light making the water shimmer, but as beautiful as it is, she can't help but cast her mind to the rest of their team stuck on the SIEV. "Stay safe, guys," she whispers, before focusing once again on the radar.

:::

**Lightning**

**Location: Coral Sea**

**2035 hours**

"Hold on!" Buffer yells out, clutching the side of the RHIB as another wave crashes over them. Kate bites her lip, trying not to cry out as the wave wrenches her from her seat, slamming her into the control unit. The heavy wall of water falls away, giving them a chance to catch their breath.

"Bomber!" At 2Dads cry, she looks up, realizing in horror that Bomber has been flung from the RHIB. They all clamber forward, Swain snapping his glow stick to provide some light.

"Bomber!" Kate shouts out, her eyes desperately scanning the roiling waves. "Can you see her?" She calls out to the guys as she leans over the edge.

"2Dads, did you see her go over?"

"No Buff, but it was only a split second ago, I swear!"

"There!" Swain calls out, pointing.

Kate looks over, sighing in relief as she sees her bobbing in the water, her life vest glowing eerily in the light from the glow stick. "Buffer, go," she says, watching as he dives into the water after her. He swims through the choppy water, pulling Bomber back to the RHIB. The RHIB pitches forward, the waves carrying them closer. As they pass by, Swain and 2Dads lean forward, catching hold of Bomber's arms and heaving her aboard, before turning back to pull Buffer out of the water. "Bomber," Kate calls out, her hands frantically checking her over.

"Is she breathing?" Swain claps Buffer on the back, before turning to Kate and Bomber.

"Yeah," Kate says, shifting back so that Swain can check her over. She turns to Buffer, checking for injuries. "You okay?"

"Yeah, X," he says, his breathing heavy.

"Good job, Buff." She says, before calling out, "hold on!" The heavy wave hits her face first, knocking the breath out of her, but she still reaches out, pulling on 2Dads vest to keep him in the RHIB as he slides past her.

"Thanks, X!" 2Dads rights himself, grins up at her. "Thought I was a goner there, for a sec!"

She shakes her head, amused despite herself. "How's she doing Swaino?"

"I'm good, X," Bomber calls out, coughing as she lets Swain help her sit up. "Thanks, guys. I thought _I_ was a goner there!"

"X, is that what I think it is?" 2Dads asks, looking out over the water. Buffer and Kate spin around, staring into the night. In the dim light, Kate can see a giant mass, which coalesces into a mountain as the RHIB pitches violently again, surging forward with the current.

"2Dads, I could kiss you right now," Buffer calls out, a smile breaking out on his face. "We've got land, X!"

Kate can almost feel the tension leech out of her body. Thank god she hadn't been wrong about the islands. She hears 2Dads cheer, and lets him have his moment, before cutting in. "And now comes the hard part."

"What?" Bomber asks, exchanging a confused look with 2Dads.

"We have no way of steering the RHIB," Buffer says. "The current could take us right past it."

"And if it does?"

"We have a choice to make." Kate says. "We either stay with the RHIB and hope we outlast the storm, or - "

"Or we swim for it," Swain finishes, catching on to her train of thought.

"What are you thinking, X?" Buffer asks.

"We wait for the RHIB to get as close as possible," she says, her eyes tracking the direction of the swells. "With any luck, the waves will carry us to shore." She doesn't want to dwell on just how little luck they've had today. "But we need to be ready to swim if we have to. Lose anything that we won't need."

Each wave that crashes over the RHIB seems to bring them lower in the water, though still pushes them forward to the island. "C'mon," she urges under her breath.

"Incoming!" Bomber calls out, just barely giving them warning as the wave hits the RHIB, tossing them all around. There's a long groaning sound, before they pitch forward again.

"We've hit something!" Swain calls out as the sound comes again, this time with a distinct thud. "We must be close, I think we're hitting the rocks!"

"Wait for it," Buffer says, his eyes trained ahead on the shore line. "We're hitting the shallows, if we get close enough, we need to try and get the RHIB ashore!"

They let the RHIB coast through the water for a few moments longer before Kate calls out, "Go, go, go!" Kate slides into the water, feeling a moment of panic as her feet don't find purchase. _Has she called it too early? _ She grips the side of the RHIB with a hand, and swims forward. The waves crash over her, and she splutters, the salty water making her gag.

"Almost there!" She hears Swain's voice, and can see him out of the corner of her eye. He's holding the RHIB as they all are, but he seems to be standing tall. "Pull!" Buffer and Swain turn, tugging the RHIB forward.

Kate kicks down, relieved as her feet slide over the rocky bottom. She pushes as Buffer and Swain pull, heaving the RHIB onto the sandy shore. Kate turns to see where 2Dads and Bomber are, hoping they've made it to shore, before she's knocked off her feet with an incoming wave. The water swirls around her head, dragging her back into the sea. She breaks through the wake and gasps for air, before she is pulled back under. Her body is slammed painfully against the rocks as she struggles against the undertow, her lungs burning. Kate tugs on her life vest, frantically searching for the cord to inflate it, pulling on it as another surge slams her head against the rocks, the murky water churning as she blacks out.

:::


	3. Chapter 3

**an: **thanks for the feedback/reviews

:::

**RHIB team**

**Location: Unidentified Island, Coral Sea**

**2056 hours**

"X!" Chris is the first to see her go down. He can see Buffer whip his head around, but she's already been dragged under.

"Swaino?"

"She's been pulled under," he calls before he dives in. The undertow is strong, pulling him further out. He lets it carry him, swimming as needed to change directions, but conserving energy where he can. He's going to need it to get the X out. He takes a deep breath, and swims under, straining to see her in the murky water. He stays under till he feels his lungs burn, before swimming up to break the surface. He exhales, and then breathes, before he turns back to the shore. "Buff! Have you seen her?" He shouts, hopes to get a positive reply. Buffer shakes his head, and he angrily slaps the water, turning around to look at the sea again. _Shit, c'mon X, where are you? _

He dives under again, his heart pounding. He turns his head, searching – there! He swims strongly, moves quickly towards her small frame. She's floating in the water, her hand clutching the cord on her life vest. He gathers her up, scraping against the rocks, before he pushes up to the surface. "X?!" She's not breathing. He swears under his breath and begins swimming back to shore, pulling her behind him. He can feel his muscles burn, but he fights through it. Suddenly he can see Buffer entering the water, swimming towards them.

"Is she alright?" He asks as he reaches them, taking the X's prone form off Chris.

"No, she's not breathing, Buff." They reach the shore, where Buffer lays the X down. Chris quickly pulls her vest off, before unclipping the Kevlar vest and pulling that off as well. He starts compressions, counting out loud.

"I'll do the breathing," Bomber says as she quickly kneels in the sand near her head.

"27 – 28 – 29 – 30!" Chris calls, pulling his arms away as Bomber leans down and breaths for Kate. "C'mon, Kate." He waits a half-second to see if she reacts, before he begins compressions again. He pulls away again as he hits 30, lets Bomber breathe, and then starts again. His heart is pounding, and he can feel his vision tunnel, focusing on Kate's face. She's too pale, the bruise around her cheek startlingly vibrant. "C'mon Kate," he repeats again, watching Bomber breathe, but the X is still.

He can feel the panic creeping over him, but he refuses to let it win. He's not going to let her die here. Chris starts another round of compressions, not flinching when he hears the ugly crack of her ribs giving way. He finishes his count, and watches Kate carefully as Bomber breathes for her. _Still nothing._ He starts compressions again, and feels a surge of relief as Kate convulses, vomiting water. Bomber helps him quickly turn her into the recovery position, while Chris gently taps on her back. "That's it, Kate – get it all out." He remains where he is, holding her in place as she continues to cough and expel water. It's the most beautiful sound he's heard today.

"Is she alright?" he hears 2Dads ask, and looks up, watching him limp over. There's blood leaking down his right leg.

"What happened to you?" Chris asks, not answering his question. Kate had been without air for a while – with the concussion, and now the broken ribs, it's too early to say anything until he's had a chance to check her over.

"Must have cut it against the rocks." 2Dads says, a grimace on his face as he looks down at his leg. "But how's the X?"

"Bomber, go look at that," Chris says, before focusing on Kate again.

"C'mon 2Dads, sit down," he hears Bomber say, and puts them out of his mind. Bomber's a good medic, she'll have 2Dads covered.

"Swaino," he looks up to see Buffer crouching in front of him and Kate. "What can I do?"

Kate's finally stopped coughing, and is now breathing raggedly, but her eyes are closed. "I need to check her out." He motions to her life vest, lying uselessly on the sand near them. "Can you have a look at that, it didn't inflate."

"Looks like it's got a big tear on the side," Buffer says.

Chris swears under his breath. That means she hit something down there. He starts examining Kate's head, expertly feeling for any bumps. There's swelling just above the base of her neck, and when he pulls his hand back, they come away slick with blood. Kate groans under him, and he abandons the search to frame her face with his hands. "Kate? Kate, can you hear me?"

"Ngh." She groans out, her eyelids fluttering.

"That's it X, c'mon." Buffer says next to him, his body tense.

"Wha - " Kate's eyes open, and Chris is immediately concerned. Her pupils are blown, and he's not surprised when she closes her eyes again, groaning in pain.

"Looks like you've bumped your head again, X," he says quietly, his voice calm. "I'm just going to check you over. Can you tell me what hurts?"

She blinks, "the guys? Couldn't see," she trails off, coughing. "Ow," she moans, her right arm moving to her chest.

Chris quickly grabs her arm, preventing it from touching her chest. "Ah, yeah, that'd be the broken ribs, X." He turns his head to see that Bomber is still working on 2Dads. "The others are fine, 2Dads is just a bit banged up, but we're all okay."

"'M fine," she mutters.

Chris scowls. "You're not fine, Kate – you have a concussion that seems to have gotten worse, you've got broken ribs, and I need to make sure that you're not hurt anywhere else." God help him from people who don't know how to accept help.

"He's got you there, X," Buffer says, sitting back in the sand.

Chris shakes his head as he continues his check, his hands going back to check on her head again. She's still bleeding, but he knows that head wounds tend to bleed a lot, so he's not too worried. She's awake and somewhat coherent, so there doesn't seem to be any underlying trauma yet. He strips off his DPNU shirt, pulls everything loose before bundling it up under her head, hoping the pressure will slow the bleeding. "I'm going to have to take your shirt off to check for injuries, X," he warns, even as he efficiently unbuttons the shirt.

"Shoulder," she mumbles, her eyes still closed.

Chris stops, moves his hands to her shoulders, and swears. Her left shoulder is dislocated, and hangs loosely in the joint. He searches for his knife, quickly cutting through her DPNU and t-shirt. "Dislocated shoulder," he says to Buffer. He looks back to see that Bomber has her shirt pressed to 2Dads leg. "How's he doing?"

"Not great, Swaino," the younger medic calls back. "It looks pretty deep, he's losing a lot of blood."

"Arterial?"

"No, looks like it's missed anything important. Looks like he'll need stitches."

"Okay, bind it up with whatever you can, see if you can stop the bleeding for now." Chris instructs, before turning back to Kate. The dislocated shoulder needs to be put back in to place, and he's not looking forward to that. Luckily it looks like the Kevlar has protected her torso from any cuts and scrapes, though she's going to be bruised. He's more worried about her ribs right now, he needs to bind her chest to keep them from shifting and causing further injury.

"Buff, I need you to cut this up into long strips for me, about this wide," he gestures, giving him Kate's ruined DPNU shirt. It's not ideal, but it's all he's got. Once Buffer's done, he motions for him to help Kate sit up. "I need you to keep her steady mate, this isn't going to be fun." He waits till Buffer sits behind her and pulls her up so that she's leaning into his chest. Kate cries out, her shoulder and arm hanging loosely as her face whitens further. "I know it hurts, X, but I need to deal with your ribs first, okay?" He says to her, efficiently beginning to bind her ribs with the crude bandages Buffer's made. "I need you to tell me if it's too tight, okay Kate? You need to be able to breathe deeply."

She takes a ragged breath. "'s fine," she says.

Chris nods, tying the last of the bandages around her chest. Hopefully they'll provide enough pressure and stability that her broken ribs don't shift, without restricting her breathing. The last thing she needs is to develop pneumonia. He turns to her shoulder, and clenches his fist. This is not going to be good. "Kate, I'm going to set your shoulder now, okay? It's going to hurt, and I don't have anything to give you for the pain." He says, before reaching down to press his fingers against hers. "Can you feel this?"

"mmm," she tries to nod, before stopping. "Tingly," she manages to get out.

"Your hand is tingling?" Chris clarifies, his hands flying up to press against her shoulder.

"Ow," Kate says, attempting to pull away from Chris, though unable to get far as she's still propped against Buffer.

Chris weighs up the benefits of setting her shoulder against the chances of a ruptured nerve. She still has feeling in her arm and shoulder, so it should be okay. It will be okay, he repeats in his head, before moving his hand down to hold her elbow gently. "Okay, on the count of three, I'm going to pull your arm out, and slide it back into place. Buff, you got her?" He waits for her to murmur her assent, and Buffer's nod, before starting to count. "One, two - " Kate screams as he pulls on her elbow, smoothly sliding until he hears it pop back into place. He looks up to see that she's passed out, and he can't blame her. That had to have hurt. He quickly fashions a sling out her t-shirt, binding her arm to her other shoulder so that's it's held in place.

He leans back, slumps down on the sand. "Okay." He runs a hand down his face, wiping away sweat and water. The adrenaline is finally leaving his system, making his hands shaky.

"Good job, Swaino," he hears Buffer say and looks up to see him adjusting Kate so that she's leaning against him more comfortably. "She's not meant to lie down with broken ribs, right?"

Chris nods wearily, feeling a rush of exhaustion come over him. All of a sudden he's aware of a painful burning sensation down his back, and he twists slightly, stunned to see blood darkening his shirt. "Oh," he says, as his vision dims. Before he passes out, he can hear Buffer's urgent calls.

"Swain? Swaino?!"

:::

an: would love to know what you're thinking.


	4. Chapter 4

:::

**RHIB team**

**Location: Unidentified Island, Coral Sea**

**2105 hours**

"Shit, Swaino! Bomber," Pete calls out, watching Swain collapse onto the sand. He shifts, ready to jump up and help when the X shifts in his arms, groaning. He looks down at her, and frowns. He can't leave the X right now, but Swain…

"I got him Buffer," Bomber says, quickly moving towards Swain's prone body. Pete watches as she snaps another glow stick, adding to the light coming from the stick near 2Dads. She quickly checks Swain over, exclaiming as her hands come away bloody. "Crap!"

"What?" Pete asks, his body tense.

"He's scraped his back and side up pretty badly," she says, before she frowns. "It's bleeding, but not enough to have caused him to pass out."

"So what's wrong with him?" 2Dads limps over, clearly trying not to put any weight on his leg. Bomber turns to them and shrugs, before turning back to Swain to see if there's something she's missed.

"I need to wash this blood off," she says, cutting through Swain's t-shirt with the knife still lying in the sand from where Swain had dropped it, before running to the water and dunking the scraps.

Pete watches as she carefully cleans the blood away, revealing a long, shallow gash along Swain's skin. It's too dark to see anything clearly from his position, but he can see Bomber's face fall. "Bomber?"

"Uh, looks like he's been stung by something, Buff," she says, her hands tentatively pressing around the wound.

"What, like a jellyfish?" 2Dads asks, awkwardly sitting down near Swain's body. "Oh, yeah, that's deffo a sting," he says, whistling. "Looks like there's more than one, too."

Pete swore under his breath. This mission has been one fucking mess after another. "Could it have caused him to pass out Bomb?"

"Yeah, maybe," she said, checking his pulse. "His pulse is steady, but we need to keep an eye out for him. If it caused him to pass out, there's a chance he's going to get worse."

"Irukandji?" Pete asks, his mind quickly turning to their last encounter with jelly fish.

"That's a bit of a leap, Buffer," Bomber says, laughing it off, though he can see the small shift in her expression. "It could have been a bluebottle," she adds.

"Man-of-war's shouldn't have caused him to pass out like that. And it wouldn't be the first time we've encountered Irukandji," Pete counters, his expression grim. Jaffa had died then.

"We can only keep an eye on him Buff." Bomber says, though Pete is quickly distracted by the X moving against him. She groans again, and her head lifts slightly before her body tenses.

"Hey, X," Pete says quietly, reaching up to stop her shifting around. "Take it easy."

"Wha – ?" She murmurs, her voice raspy. "What's going on?"

"You've taken a few hits, X," Pete says, though he knows that's a bit of an understatement.

She raises her right hand, flinching as she touches the back of her skull. As if realizing she's been leaning on him, she moves forward, though he pulls her back softly as she inhaled sharply. "Easy, X," he says, waiting until she catches her breath before continuing, giving her a sit rep. "We've made it to shore, you've got broken ribs, a concussion, and a dislocated shoulder, though Swain's set it. 2Dads has a bit of a gash on his leg, but he's walking fine. Bomber and I are okay."

She takes a moment to process what he's said, and when she stiffens he knows she's picked up on what he _hasn't_ said. "Swain?"

"Looks like he's been stung by jelly fish," he replies. "He's been scraped up a fair bit, and he's bleeding, but that can't have been the reason he's passed out," he finished.

"Irukandji?" She asks quietly, so clearly, they're on the same wavelength regarding that.

"Bomber doesn't think so, but there's no way of knowing right now." Pete doesn't want to think about what will happen if it is Irukandji poisoning. It was bad enough on the ship where they had access to medical care. Here, on this island …

"Okay," the X says, shifting forward again, slowly enough this time that he lets her move. "Help me up, Buffer," she turns her head, looking over at Bomber and 2Dads, who are still huddled over Swain, before looking back at Pete. Her pupils are blown, her voice is strained, and he isn't sure this is the best idea, but he helps her up anyway, watching carefully as she sways in place.

"X," he starts, before she cuts him off.

"I'm alright Buff, but we need to get ourselves off this beach." She gestures vaguely at the water. "Tide's gotta be coming in soon, and I'm surprised that it hasn't started raining again."

"Okay X, but you've gotta take it easy," Pete says, looking up at the sky. It's pitch black, cloud cover hiding any sight of the moon, or stars, the only light coming from the glow sticks lying on the sand, and the odd flash of lighting in the distance. "How's your head?"

"Feels like there's a heavy metal band playing up a storm," she says, wincing as she rubbed her chest. "What happened to my ribs?" Pete shrugs, not sure how to tell her that she'd had to be revived via CPR. "I was in the water," the X said suddenly, glancing at the sea, where the waves were crashing heavily against the shore. "I think I hit the rocks," she trailed off, looking down at herself for the first time since she'd awoken.

"Uh, yeah," he says. _Eloquent as always, Pete,_ he thinks. "Swain pulled you out. You weren't breathing, Kate." He lets her have a moment, before he continues. "Swain and Bomber had to do CPR to bring you back."

She doesn't say anything in response, merely adjusting her left shoulder in the makeshift sling Swain had mocked up, before she shivers as the wind picks up. Pete frowns, and shrugs off his DPNU shirt, helping her thread her good arm through a sleeve before wrapping the other around her injured shoulder and buttoning it up quickly. It wouldn't provide a lot of warmth, but at least it covered her bare skin from the elements. He brushes off the grateful smile she gives him, turning to the others.

"Okay, listen up," he calls out, gaining their attention. "The X is right, tide's gonna start coming in soon, so we need to get off the beach. 2Dads, you and the X help each other to the tree line, Bomber, you and I will get Swain." He cuts off the X's protest. "You can barely walk X," he says firmly, waiting until 2Dads limps over and holds out an arm for Kate to take, before they slowly make their way to the shadowed tree line, merely hulking shapes in the dark.

Pete moves towards Swain, and with Bomber's help, moves him to join the others. Leaning Swain's body against a tree, he takes a moment to assess the situation. The wind has picked up again, and they're all shivering in the cold wake it leaves behind. Swain's out cold, the X is barely keeping herself upright, and 2Dads, while not injured badly, isn't going to be mobile enough to help much.

"Okay, Bomber, we need to get some sort of shelter sorted. If it starts raining, things are going to get worse. I need you to get whatever you can from the RHIB – if the tide comes in, we have no way of stopping Lightning from floating away." She nods, and taking one of the glow sticks, makes her way to the shoreline and into the RHIB. He turns to 2Dads – "Keep an eye out, 2Dads, I'm going to see if I can find some dry wood, get a fire started."

"I'll keep an eye on Swain," the X says, slowly lowering herself to the ground, and then sighs as the rain starts up again, slowly at first, then becoming a deluge in seconds.

Pete nods, and leaves them with the second glow stick, before he snaps a new one, blinking through the rain dripping down his face as the green light throws shadows across the ground. He looks back at his team, casting a worried look at Swain before turning back to the dark forest in front of him.

"Be careful, Buff," he hears the X call from behind him, and raises a hand in acknowledgement before he enters the dense brush, eyes searching through the dark.

:::

**HMAS Hammersley**

**Location: Arafura Sea**

**2050 Hours**

It's quiet on the bridge, Billy thinks. He's acting helmsman while Nav has the ship, but Charge and RO are both at their desks, and Charge, at least, is usually more talkative than this. "They're okay, right" he questions before he realizes it.

"Spider?" Nav turns away from the radar to look at him. He fidgets, but meets her eyes.

"Buffer, and the X, and the guys," he expands, "they're okay, right?" He'd twisted his wrist after taking a fall, so he'd been icing it in the ward room when the boss'd called boarding stations. He'd wanted to join them, but the X and Swain had told him to rest up, and now they were miles away and Billy can't help but think that he should've been on the SIEV with them.

"Yeah, Spider, they're fine," she says, but he can tell that she's worried.

Billy nods, and says nothing for a while, his eyes trained on the dark waves in front of him. Eventually, he turns back to RO. "Have we tried them on the SIEV's radio?"

RO gives him a withering glare. "No, Spider, that hadn't occurred to us at all," he says sarcastically.

"Radio on the SIEV was trashed," Charge interrupts. "We had contact with them while we were in range of the motorola's, but…" he trails off, and Billy can fill in the blanks. They're out of range now, so they have no way of contacting the team.

"And you said there's a storm?" He persists, turning back to Nav. Billy's been on more than a few SIEV's since he's been posted on to the Hammersley, and not all of them had been sea worthy. "This SIEV, it can handle that?"

Nav shrugs. "Buffer and 2Dads seemed to think so," she says, and is about to continue before she's interrupted by RO.

"Uh, Nav, I have a call coming in for the boss, looks like it's Commander Marshall," he says, placing a hand over the receiver. Nav reaches for the tannoy, and calls for the boss to come to the bridge. He must have already been on his way, because he walks up the stairs within a minute. Billy looks back at the water, though his attention is on the boss.

He exchanges a glance with Nav, as they both strain to hear the conversation, though the boss is talking quiet enough the Billy can't hear much. The sound of the satellite phone being slammed back into its cradle breaks the silence, and Billy can hear the boss sigh, before he moves to the tannoy.

"Do you hear, this is the captain speaking." They all turn to watch the boss, and Billy can see that he's not the only one alarmed at the expression on his face. "We've just received word from NAVCOM, the Kingston was passing through the Coral sea, and offered to check in on our crew for us." He paused, and Billy feels his gut clench, knowing that the captain's next words aren't going to be good. "According to them, the SIEV is no longer at the coordinates we left her at." He waits for the outcry to die out, before continuing. "Now, the storm seems to have hit the area quite severely, so there is a chance that the X made the call to head back to shore. However, the Kingston is going to stay in the area and wait for the storm to clear up, before starting a search. We have no other details yet, but I'll keep you informed. Captain out."

"Boss?" Charge asks, leaving his desk to join them near the captain's seat. "The X wouldn't have made that call."

The boss nods, "no, she wouldn't have."

"So where are they?" Billy's question echoes in the sudden silence, and he looks from Charge to the boss, hoping they'll have an answer.

"Right now, we just don't know Spider," the boss replies, his voice grim, as he stares out at the water. "Captain has the boat," he calls. Nav nods, and follows the routine, confirms that he has the boat.

"We're going to go find them, right, Boss?" Billy shifts forward, waits for the boss's commands to get the ship going.

"'course we are," Charge says, before he catches sight of the boss's face. "Sir?"

"Look, I don't like it any more than you do, Charge, but for now, orders are for us to sit tight. The Kingston will be heading up the search party until we've completed handover with AFP."

"This is crap," Charge says, and Billy can't help but agree. The boss doesn't respond, but Billy can tell that he feels the same.

"It's the X, and Buffer, and Swain," Nav says. "Between them, they can handle anything."

"Yeah," Billy agrees, though he's not as confident as she sounds. He thinks of the crew, riding out the storm on a SIEV that could be falling apart right now. He glances at his watch, and then back at the boss, who seems to be scowling at the clear sea in front of him. Morning can't come quick enough, Billy thinks. The sooner they handover with the feds, the sooner they can find their team.

:::

an: so i'm not gonna lie, i did forget about spider in the first couple of chapters, and then had to scramble to come up with a reason for him not being present on the boarding party. whoops? as always, would love to know what you think.


	5. Chapter 5

an: in other news, i'm still stuck in a corner with _my hands are cold_, so here, have another chapter of castaways, where we get a sneak peek into what mike is thinking (and mike thinks in super long run-on sentences, sorry guys), as well as returning to the island where, well – they're all still alive at least?

:::

**HMAS Hammersley**

**Location: Arafura Sea**

**2136 Hours**

Mike throws his pen down in frustration, eyes the stack of paperwork on his desk with a glare, before he stares at the phone in his cabin, and debates whether he should try arguing with Marshall again. He understands why they're stuck here, why it's important that they wait for AFP – the Dancing Lady's cargo was too dangerous to leave in the sea unguarded, waiting for salvagers, even if his team do just think they're babysitting a dead man. But. Kate's out there, god only knew where, with Buffer and the team. The Hammersley should be out there, searching for their crew. _He _should be out there, searching for his team.

Searching for her.

The thought hits him, and he scowls. He's put his relationship with Kate where it belongs, firmly in the past – or at least, he's tried to. He'd be the first to admit that he hasn't exactly managed to stay professional during Kate's time on Hammersley, but they've both seemingly agreed to put it behind them. Any decisions he makes now have to be for the good of the team. He can't afford to let his emotions be clouded.

Maybe he'd been wrong. Maybe Kate had made the decision to steam back to shore. It's not like he knows what she's thinking about anything these days. Some days they get along fine. Some days they're like oil and water. Sometimes he wonders what would've happened if she hadn't stayed on the Hammersley. If she'd taken the recommendation he'd given her, taken another posting. He sighs, shaking the thought off. It still wouldn't have worked – they'd both be on separate ships, out for sea months at a time. Realistically, the only way a relationship would work for them while still being Navy was if he took a shore posting – and he's not ready to give up the Hammersley. Not yet.

Kate's a good sailor. Buffer, Swain – his team is the best of the best, and he knows that in his bones. Even 2Dads and Bomber, for all the headaches they've caused, are learning. What had Nav said earlier on the bridge? _Between them they can handle anything._ He trusts the team. They'll be okay.

He turns his eyes back to the paperwork on his desk, idly wondering if it had somehow managed to grow in the time he'd been lost in his thoughts.

:::

**RHIB team**

**Location: Unidentified Island, Coral Sea**

**2313 hours**

Kate leans against the tree, eyes staring blindly into the dark. She can hear the rain pattering against the hastily constructed shelter Buffer and Bomber had thrown together, and she hopes that it will hold out. They're already cold, wet and miserable, no need to make it any worse. She shivers again, grateful for the meagre protection the borrowed DPNU shirt gives – it was more than she'd had before, with ribs bound with her own shirt, and her t-shirt being used as a sling for her shoulder. She still doesn't remember anything past getting pulled in by the undertow, though she supposes her injuries tell enough of the story. She'd died, even if it was only for a minute. _Dead. _

She shakes her head, trying to brush off the morbid thought, though she regrets it as her head pounds. Right, she still had a concussion. "Ugh," she whispers, already over her injuries. She is next to useless right now, and she hates that she can't help her team.

Even with his leg cut up, and somewhat light headed from blood loss, 2Dads had managed to help Bomber sort through their supplies as she'd salvaged what she could from the RHIB and what remained of their gear. Bomber has stepped up as a medic – Kate is proud of the younger woman, who hadn't flinched when she'd found the first aid supplies and realized that she would have to now stitch up the wound on 2Dads leg. Bomber'd also rallied around Swain, who'd drifted in and out of consciousness briefly, long enough to talk Bomber through treating the jellyfish stings, before falling asleep. Buffer has been a rock. He'd organised a shelter for them, mustered Bomber and 2Dads - .

"How're you going, X?"

And he's also been keeping her awake, knowing that she shouldn't sleep while concussed. "'m awake Buff," she says, though her shivering has made her voice shaky. "Just a little cold," she adds, as if it wasn't obvious. She shifts a little, trying not to knock into Bomber, who was sleeping next to her. They're all huddled into the small space provided by the shelter, out of the rain, at least.

"Sorry X, the wood was too damp for a fire. I'll have to go further in tomorrow, there may be a dry patch somewhere with more tree cover," he says.

"It's not your fault Buff," Kate says, shifting again, before inhaling sharply as her body protests. Her breath catches, turns into a choked cough as she cries out in pain.

"X?" She feels his presence near her other side before he runs a hand down her back. "That's it, breathe, X, c'mon," he says, his voice quiet, "in and out, nice and easy." Kate focuses on the timbre of his voice, uses it to calm her racing heart and steady her breathing.

"That's what she said," 2Dads quips, his voice coming from the other side of the shelter.

Kate laughs at the terrible joke before she can stop herself, and then groans in pain as the movement sets her ribs off again. Christ, she is done with being injured.

"Shut it, 2Dads," Buffer says, though she can hear the smile in his voice. "Get some sleep."

"Me too?" Kate asks wryly. She's exhausted, and her eyes keep drifting closed, though the dull pounding in her head is enough to keep her awake for now.

"Nice try, X," Buffer replies, as they settle into a comfortable silence.

The next few hours pass in this way, Kate fighting off sleep, Buffer periodically shaking her awake. It's close to 0300 when Swain finally stirs, and Kate breathes a sigh of relief. Bomber had said that he was only sleeping, not unconscious, earlier, but it had been hard to believe that, not after what Buffer had said earlier.

"Hey Swaino," Buffer says quietly, flicking on the torch 2Dads had found while organizing supplies.

Kate flinches back from the light, the sudden brightness a sharp knife against her over-sensitive eyes. She blinks, letting herself become accustomed to the light, before she turns to Swain, who is sitting up slowly, a grimace on his face. "How're you feeling, Swain?"

"Okay, X," he says, and she raises an eyebrow as he felt his side gingerly. "Also, like I've been hit by a truck," he adds, twisting his body so he can see his side. "What happened?"

Kate exchanges a glance with Buffer. Swain had been awake earlier, and she's not sure if this confusion is normal. "You've scraped up your back and side a fair bit, Swain."

"And then there were the jellyfish," Buffer adds, a frown on his face.

"Jellyfish?" Swain nods, as if they'd confirmed something for him. "That'd explain the burning then." He looks around the makeshift shelter, and at the team. Bomber and 2Dads are sleeping, Buffer looks exhausted, and Kate's pretty sure she looks like roadkill right now. "How're you doing, X?"

"Tired," she says. "Buffer's been keeping me awake," she starts, "but otherwise, I'm okay."

"Good, it's not the best idea to sleep after getting a concussion, especially since we haven't been able to check you out properly. Though you can probably catnap," Swain replies, before he turns to Buffer. "Get some sleep, Buff, I'll keep an eye out on trouble."

"Good luck, she's stubborn," Buffer says.

"Hey," she protests half-heartedly. Wasn't she meant to be their superior officer? She tries to think how the Kate who'd first joined the Hammersley would have taken the light ribbing, and sighs.

"So I see I missed all the fun stuff," Swain says as he pulls himself to the tree next to her, giving Buffer a bit more room to lay out.

"Hmm?" Kate asks, closing her eyes.

"The shelter?" He nudges her slightly, waits till she opens her eyes.

"Yeah, Buffer put it together."

"At least it keeps the rain off, hey?" Swain says. "Fair warning, he snores like a freight train," he adds in a whisper.

"Oi!" Buffer calls out, and Kate muffles a laugh. At least if she has to be stuck on an island, she's stuck with people who can make her laugh.

"G'nite, Buff – " Swain cuts himself off, the unmistakeable sound of the hammer on a gun being pulled back echoing in the silence, and Kate freezes, feeling the cold barrel of a gun press against her temple.

"Don't be a hero," the man says to Buffer, who was reaching for his gun. Kate cries out as he hauls her up by her left arm, her shoulder wrenching again.

"Kate!" Swain calls out, even as he's roughly jerked to his feet as well. The men seem to melt silently out of the shadows, and suddenly they're surrounded. 2Dads and Bomber stir with the commotion, and Kate watches angrily as they're pulled to their feet, guns trained on them as well.

"Can't fucking believe it," one of the men says disgustedly. "They're the ones we left on that RHIB," he waves his gun around, angrily gesturing at Buffer. "We should've taken care of them right then, Zack, I fucking told you!"

"That RHIB should've gone down in the storm," the man holding Kate says, his voice calm. "Now, sweetheart," Kate shudders as he trails the gun down her cheek, before his hand tightens on her shoulder, pressing down until she cries out again. "How did you manage to find us?"

"Stop, you're hurting her," Bomber says, struggling against the man holding her.

"Keep her quiet," Zack barks at the man, his gun pressing down on Kate's throat.

"Don't hurt her," Kate says quickly, watching in alarm as the other man struck out with the butt of his gun, connecting with Bomber's temple. She can see Bomber's head fly back with the impact, and tries to move away from her captor.

"Bomber!"

She thinks she hears 2Dads call out, before her captor swings her around so that she's facing him, her head slamming against the tree, black spots bursting across her vision. Zack is enormous, well over 6 foot, and built like a rugby player. He pushes his forearm against her throat, pressing down enough that she can feel the pressure, but not enough that he's choking her. "Now, let's try this again, _Kate_," he says, ignoring the protests from her crew. "How did you find us?"

:::


	6. Chapter 6

:::

**RHIB team**

**Location: Unidentified Island, Coral Sea**

**0306 hours**

"Let her go!"

Kate hears someone call out through the ringing in her ears, and blinks hazily. She takes a shallow breath, her throat compressed by a thickly muscled arm. _Fuck, _what else was going to go wrong on this op? "Didn't," she chokes out.

He presses his arm further, racketing her head against the tree again. Kate winces, the pounding in her head exacerbated by the continued ringing in her ears. She can feel the nausea churn in her gut, the bile beginning to rise in her throat. She struggles frantically against the man holding her, each movement sending a sharp spike of pain through her head.

"Ugh, you stupid bitch," Zack lets her go, stepping back in disgust as Kate dry-heaves, her throat burning. Her chest aches, her ribs protesting the contraction of her stomach muscles. Kate gasps, disgusted by the taste of bile in her mouth, and leans back against the tree. Her eyes drift close, shutting out the sight of her team held at gunpoint. She needs a minute, just one, to settle herself, before she tries to figure out what to do.

"She's got a concussion," she hears Swain say angrily, and opens her eyes again. She doesn't have time for a minute.

"'m okay," she says softly to him, before turning her gaze back to the asshole holding a gun to her face. "Look, the RHIB washed up on the island," she says wearily. There's no point in trying to dissemble. "We had no idea you were here."

She sees them exchange incredulous glances. "You really think we're dumb enough to believe that?"

"Well, if you put it like that," she says before she can stop herself. Clearly head injuries strip her brain-to-mouth filter. "It's the truth," she continues, glaring at him.

"Zack, we can't let them go."

"No shit, Adam." Zack snarls back. He spins back to face the others, pulling Kate in front of him, his arm trapping her arms against her torso. "We're going to head back to our camp, nice and quiet like. If any of you assholes feels like being a hero, the first thing you're going to see is a bullet going straight through her skull." He pulls out a torch and flicks it on before passing it to Kate. "Lead the way blondie, and remember, no funny business."

Kate hefts the torch, blinking against the increased brightness in the night. It's heavy, and she wonders at him giving her a possible weapon. In normal circumstances, he'd be underestimating her. Right now, she doesn't rate her chances – but she can wait. "Which way?" She asks quietly, and then starts walking in the direction he shoves her towards.

They walk through the dense underbrush in silence, Kate scowling as Zack pushes the gun into her back to direct he as needed. She tries to keep track of where they are but her head is still spinning, and she gives it up as a lost cause.

Her body is ready to quit on her by the time they break free from the trees and approach a small cove. The wind and rain have died out, and the sky is lightening with pre-dawn. She can make out a boat anchored in the water, and tents set up ahead of the waterline. She stumbles forward as Zack pushes her again, and grits her teeth, refusing to collapse. When they approach the Zodiac bobbing in the shallow waves, she stops.

"Get in," he says, waving his gun at her, before turning back to the others. "Tie 'em up, make sure they can't get loose," he orders his men. "I'm taking her on board."

"What?" Buffer asks, breaking the silence that the Hammersley crew have fallen into. "She's staying with us."

"You think you have a say in what happens mate?" Zack shoots back, his lips twisted into a vicious smirk, the light from the torch casting eerie shadows on his face. "Get in the boat, before I start shooting," he snarls at Kate.

Kate climbs into the Zodiac awkwardly, her limbs heavy. The torch slips from her hand and lands with a dull thump in the bottom. Zack jumps in after her, and the last thing she sees is Buffer and Swain struggling against the men tying them up as the dark quickly swallows her up.

:::

**HMAS Hammersley**

**Location: Arafura Sea**

**0543 Hours**

"Here you go Nav," Charge holds out a mug. "Navigator brew, as undrinkable as ever."

Nikki takes the mug gratefully, and sips, hissing as the scalding hot liquid hits her mouth. She takes a moment to savour the caffeine hit before she turns back to the radar, and sits up. _Finally._ "Boss, we've got the feds on radar," she calls out. They're barely visible, but they're there.

"About time," Charge says, sitting down at the EOD.

"Still too far out for the EOD," she reminds him, turning towards the boss. She takes another pull from her mug, before setting it down. "How long do you think handover will take, sir?"

"Want me to handle it, boss?" Charge asks. With Buffer and the X not on board, she supposes it'll be up to her or Charge, and she's never done a handover before.

"Ah, no need Charge, I'll be handling handover this time."

"Sir?" Nikki questions before she can stop herself. This was a routine handover, wasn't it?

"It's a bit of a delicate situation," is all he says in response, before he turns away.

Nikki exchanges a glance with Charge. It's a downed ship, and a dead man in their trash room. What's delicate about it?

"Sir, I have an incoming call on the radio," RO says, holding his hand over his mic. "It's the feds, say they should be with us in a half-hour."

"Okay, thanks RO." He turns back to them and looks between them. "Why don't you two go get some sleep. You were meant to be off-duty hours ago." When they don't move, he continues. "Handover will take a couple of hours, and then I'm going to need you fresh for plotting the search grid, Nav. Charge, I'll need those engines running flat tack."

Nikki nods, taking the order for what it was. She pulls herself out of her seat, stretching out stiff muscles. Maybe the boss had a point. "Yes sir."

She leaves Charge in the senior sailors' mess and walks towards the cabin she shares with Kate, hesitating outside the door. She takes a breath and enters, avoiding the sight of Kate's undisturbed rack, sheets neatly made. It emphasizes her absence. Shutting the door behind her, she leans on the desk, rubbing her hands over her face. They're okay, Kate, and Swain, and Buffer, and the others. They have to be. She can't lose anyone else. Not after Josh. Not like this.

:::


	7. Chapter 7

**RHIB team**

**Location: Unidentified Island, Coral Sea**

**0556 hours**

Pete struggles against the zip tie binding his hands, trying in vain to pull it apart.

"Buff," Swain says quietly, his eyes trained on the men who have dispersed around the camp, leaving only one man half-heartedly holding a gun on the group from a good distance. "Your wrists, mate."

It's only then that Pete realizes that his hands are slick, wet with blood. He keeps going, disregarding it. It's only a bit of skin. The others are much worse off. The last few hours have been hell, and he'd felt awful watching the X stumble through on their trek across the island. He'd been furious, watching the ringleader shove at her with his gun, and it had only been the gun pressed into the base of his skull that had kept him quiet. And then that fucker had taken her onto the ship. She'd passed out again, he'd seen her practically face plant into the Zodiac, and he can't help but wonder just how bad her concussion was.

"Swain, how do you think the X – is she," 2Dads starts, and then cuts himself off. "Why do you think they've separated us?" He asks instead.

Pete is quiet. He hasn't _wanted_ to think about that. The X had told them the truth – that they'd had no idea the drug runners were on the island. They'd had no reason to split them up.

"Why do you think, 2Dads," Bomber says, as she stares down at the sand. Her cheek is swollen from where she'd been hit in the face, but she'd been adamant that she was fine. Her voice is sullen, and Pete knows that her thoughts have gone the way of his. The X is a beautiful woman, and he hadn't liked the way that the ringleader had stared at her.

"They wouldn't – he wouldn't – " 2Dads can't even say the words, and Pete doesn't blame him. Sexual assault isn't something that anyone likes to think about, much less talk about. They're going to get out of this, and the X will be fine. She has to be.

"Look, we need to focus on getting out of here," Swain says. "Buffer, what do you think?"

"There's still too many of them. We won't stand a chance against all of them and their guns – we need to wait it out." Pete tries pulling against the zip tie again, ignoring the burn.

"They'll be looking for us by now, right?" Bomber looks between Pete and Swain.

"Yeah, 'course they are," Swain replies.

"The X said it'd just take them a little longer, right? 'Cause we'd drifted from the SIEV." 2Dads shifts, and Pete can see that he's trying to manoeuvre his own bonds. "So we need to get ourselves out of this mess."

"Right," Pete replies. "Keep your eyes open. We'll only get one shot at this." They fall silent then, and Pete can't help but letting his eyes drift to the small boat still anchored in the bay.

:::

Kate comes to slowly. The first thing she feels is the shocking cold of an ice pack on her head, then the dull rasp of fingers on her skin. Her eyes fly open, and she winces against the bright light.

"Good, you're awake."

Kate struggles to sit up – her head feels fuzzy and it's hard to think, but as she focuses, she realizes that the man sitting in front of her is unfamiliar. "Who – who are you?" She stills as he reaches behind her and lifts the ice pack to her skull again, waits till she replaces it with her own hand. "Why are you helping me?"

"I'm not – I'm helping myself," he replies. "Despite what those assholes out there seem to think, I'm not going down for murder." He holds up a roll of bandages, motioning to her shirt. "You should probably wrap your ribs up properly. What did they use, your shirt?"

Kate shifts uncomfortably. He may not want to go down for murder, but first aid is more than she'd have expected. Her eyes drift from the bandages he's holding, to the bottle of water sitting next to him. As if the sight has reminded her body, suddenly she is desperately thirsty. She motions to the water, asking silently, and is relieved when he nods. She lowers the ice pack, before she reaches for the water. The first mouthful is disgusting, and she vaguely remembers that she'd thrown up again, but she keeps drinking. Dehydration will only make her worse, and she doesn't need anything else working against her right now.

"Hey, slowly!" The guy pulls the bottle away from her, and she shoots him an annoyed look. "You've already thrown up on Zack, I have no intention of being next," he says, looking over her shoulder. "Now, you want to do your ribs up or what?"

"They're fine," she replies. "Look, we had no idea that you guys were on the island."

"Maybe you did, maybe you didn't." He shrugs, shooting Zack a glare as he moved into Kate's line of sight. "Too late now, anyway."

"What do you want from us?"

"You're going to be our ticket out of here," he replies.

Zack scoffs. "What, you think the Navy are going to just let us walk free, Luke?"

"Well, the rest of the Navy don't know that we're here," Luke says, his voice even. "And we're going to keep it that way." He turns back to Kate. "Now, you're going to sit tight, and not cause any trouble, hey?" His expression darkens. "Remember, we have your crew outgunned and outnumbered. Don't get any ideas."

Kate nods, not knowing what to say. She needs to think, but her head is still fuzzy, and her thoughts keep drifting off in tangents. They leave her below decks, and close the hatch behind them, their voices fading into the distance. She gives it a minute, not trusting that they're not going to turn back, before she carefully stands. It takes a moment for her to steady herself, but she takes a deep breath and grits her teeth. She can't afford to wait for the Hammersley – not when the lives of her team are at risk. She can't take the chance that someone will become trigger happy. Slowly making her way around the darkened space, she starts a thorough search, her eyes straining to focus.

"C'mon Kate, you can do this," she whispers to herself, trying to muster the energy to keep going. She's exhausted – it's been well over 24 hours since she'd last slept, and her body is loudly protesting the constant movement. Pulling open a drawer full of junk, she groans, and searches through it half-heartedly, before she stills. Buried under bits of paper and a multitude of odds and ends, she can see the dull glint of a pocket knife. Hardly believing it, she fishes it out, snapping it open to see the razor-sharp edge. It's not much, but it could do a lot of damage. Hearing footsteps overhead, she hastily shoves the knife into her pocket, slides the draw shut and moves to the couch as quickly as she can. By the time she can see someone descending the steps, her breathing has evened out somewhat.

He steps out into her line of sight, and she stills. It's Zack, and he looks furious as he moves closer to her. Her eyes fall on the gun in his hand.

"Luke isn't here anymore," he starts, putting the gun on the table beside him as he sits down. "You and me, sweetheart, we're gonna have us a little talk."

:::


	8. Chapter 8

:::

**RHIB team**

**Location: Unidentified Island, Coral Sea**

**0628 hours**

Chris stares out over the water, watching the waves gently lap against the sand. The sky has lightened, the storm passing, leaving a certain briskness to the air. His side burns again and he shifts, trying to relieve the ache, but otherwise ignoring it. Jellyfish stings aren't going to kill him. He's more concerned with how they're going to get themselves out of this mess.

His eyes drift over to the men wandering the makeshift campsite. He's counted at least ten men so far, all heavily armed. On a normal day, he'd say they could have taken them, but right now? Kate's probably been hit the worst, in terms of injuries, but he's also a little worried about how pale 2Dads is looking. Bomber'd stitched him up, but the makeshift bandage wrapped around his thigh has darkened with blood, and he's worried that the trek here had torn the stitches. Bomber'd taken a pretty nasty hit to the face, and he's a little banged up himself. Of all of them, Buffer's probably the least injured. Regardless, they're outgunned, and he's not certain that it's the best idea to do anything while they're separated.

Movement from the boat moored in the bay catches his eye, and he squints a little, trying to see past the glare from the water. The loud engine of a Zodiac fills the air, breaking through the silence they all seem to have fallen into.

"Is the X on board?"

"Only one person, as far as I can tell," he replies. "Looks like she's still on the boat." He exchanges a concerned glance with Buffer. He doesn't know why they've been separated, and his concern grows when the Zodiac reaches shore, and a new man jumps out. Shit, how many of them are there?

The man spares them a glance, his face expressionless, before he moves towards the others. He seems to be issuing orders, though there are a couple of guys who seem uneasy with what he's saying. He's far enough away from them that Chris can't hear a word of what he's saying.

"Can you guys hear anything?"

"No – figures that the one person who can read lips isn't here," Buffer grumbles.

2Dads looks at him curiously. "No way, the X can read lips?" He shakes his head as Buffer nods. "No wonder she always seems to know everything."

"No, that's because she can read your mind," Chris deadpans, before tensing as the man from the Zodiac turns towards them. He instinctively flexes his wrists, hissing as the zip tie cuts into his raw skin. "Where's Kate?" He asks the newcomer, noting that he doesn't seem to be armed.

"She's fine."

Chris scowls at the brush off, but decides not to push it for now. "What do you want with us?"

"Just sit tight. Don't make a fuss, and you might just get out of this alive," he says quietly.

"Luke!" One of the others – Adam, Chris thinks, rushes up behind Luke, his gun held casually in his arms. "We've got to talk." He doesn't wait to see if Luke is following before he turns and walks away.

"Like I said – just follow orders, and you'll be alright."

Chris watches him walk away, his mind working over their conversation, and everything else that's happened over the last day. There was something he was missing, but what?

:::

**HMAS Hammersley**

**Location: Arafura Sea**

**0723 Hours**

"You must be Lieutenant Commander Flynn," the fed says as he steps onto the Hammersley. "I'm Agent Darrow, I believe you know Agent Turnbull?"

"Welcome aboard," Mike says, leading them through the ship. "So what's going on Agent Darrow?"

"Is there somewhere private we can talk?"

Raising an eyebrow, Mike nods, changing tack so that he can lead them to the officers' mess.

"Right, so yesterday, you were tasked to respond to a mayday call?" Darrow asks, as he and Turnbull take a seat.

Mike nods. "The call came through just after 1030 yesterday – we were still a couple of hours out from the Dancing Lady's last known location, but we were the closest asset. We left a team on the SIEV we'd boarded, and made full speed for the location." He shakes his head. "By the time we made it here, they'd dropped off the radar. We sent a RHIB out, completed a search and rescue rotation. We found one deceased, and there were no signs of anyone else, and just debris from the ship."

Darrow exchanges a glance with his partner. "And regarding the cargo of the Dancing Lady?"

"The drugs?" Mike stares him down. "NAVCOM suggested that you believe it's a significant amount?"

"Estimated street value was five million," Darrow says. "It's why you were told to stay put, we couldn't take the chance that salvagers would come looking."

"That's pretty definite for an estimate. How can you be certain that's what was there?"

Darrow sighs, and rubs a hand over his face. "We had an agent on board. The description you've given us of the dead man doesn't fit him, thankfully, but we've lost radio contact with him."

Mike's demeanour softens a little. "So what do you need from us?"

"Intel from our agent had the group rendezvousing on an island somewhere in the Coral Sea. We're hoping that our agent will have made it off the Dancing Lady, and will be meeting up with the rest of the group. We need your help in narrowing the search field, while we get divers down to the wreck."

"It'll have to wait, Agent Darrow – I've lost contact with the team I had on the SIEV, and with the storm yesterday, finding my people is my first priority. Once we have them back on board, we'll be happy to help with the search."

Darrow nods, before standing up. "I'd like to see the body, if I can. We can get handover started now as well."

"Actually, there's a couple of things I'd like to go over with Lieutenant Commander Flynn," Turnbull says, though she doesn't elaborate. Mike opens the door, and flags down a passing Charge.

"Charge, this is Agent Darrow," he introduces the men. "This is Chief Petty Officer Thorpe, he'll take you down to holding, and start the handover process. I'll be down shortly." He watches them leave, and then turns back to Agent Turnbull, who has stayed seated. "Agent Turnbull?"

She sits quietly for a moment, staring at her hands, before she looks up at him. "Uh, you said your team was on a boarding party, and you've lost contact now?"

"Yes, I did."

"I'm not sure if I should say anything,"

"Agent?" Mike prompts, as she hesitates again, before seeming to steel herself.

"Agent Greaves was able to pass on a lot of intel before we lost contact when the Dancing Lady went down. One of the theories we'd had was that they were using small boats to facilitate movement of drugs."

Mike feels his stomach sink. "You think that my team are on one of those boats?"

She shifts. "I'm saying that there's a possibility, and I don't think you should be going in blind – but that's all it is, a possibility. We don't know for sure," she finishes, standing up.

Mike leads her out of the room, his mind working furiously. What were the odds that their SIEV was actually a front for drug-running? He shakes his head, dismissing the thought. There'd been nothing to suggest that there had been drugs involved, though he supposed they had left before the team had had a chance to secure the hold. Still, it was a bit of a reach.

:::


	9. Chapter 9

:::

**RHIB team**

**Location: Unidentified Island, Coral Sea**

**0642 hours**

Kate looks at the gun on the table, and then back up at the man sitting in front of her, mentally calculating the odds on whether she can get to it before he can. They aren't in her favour.

He seems to be waiting for something, and it's not till she hears the thrum of the Zodiac engine moving away that he seems to relax almost imperceptibly. "So how exactly did you manage to get yourselves into this mess?"

"Excuse me?"

"No, seriously, this is what, the second time in less than 24 hours that you and your team have been taken?" Zack shakes his head, frowning. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you."

She thinks back to the hard press of his fingers on her shoulder, being slammed up against the tree, stumbling through the darkened forest with a gun held to the small of her back. "Right, because that makes me feel better," she mutters.

"I'm sorry about earlier," he says. "I didn't mess up your shoulder too much, did I? And shit, the other guy said you have a concussion." He swears, running a hand through his hair. "Uh, painkillers – I don't have anything strong, but I can probably scrounge up some Panadol or something?"

She stares at him incredulously, her eyes widening in surprise when he sighs, an apologetic look on his face. "I'm a fed. Zack Greaves," he offers her his hand, shrugging when she merely looks at him. "I've been undercover with these guys for the last six months, working my way up."

Kate blinks. "A fed?" He can't seriously think that she's going to buy that, can he?

"Why would I lie about that?" He asks her, seeming to understand her scepticism. "Look, I get that I was a little rough earlier,"

"A little?"

He winces. "Okay, more than a little. I'm sorry. I had to maintain my cover, and if I hadn't sold it, you and your crew would more than likely be dead right now, alright?"

Kate watches him closely, her eyes searching, but he seems sincere enough. "Okay, start from the beginning." She listens as he starts to speak, her mind filtering through the information. He seems to be telling the truth, but can she trust him? Not just with her life, but her crew's?

" – and once we left you on that RHIB and sunk the Lady, we made our way here." He shakes his head. "I really thought you'd be okay – I didn't consider the storm." His eyes narrow. "But your ship should have picked you up?"

Kate picks up the ice pack, presses it against her head again, thinking over everything he said. "They went to answer your mayday call," she finally says.

"Oh," he winces again. "And the island? You really washed up here?" He shakes his head in disbelief when she nods. "Christ, you really do have terrible luck. This is where the syndicate have been based for the last three months – if you'd washed up half a k either side, you'd probably have gone undiscovered, but that cove is one that they keep an eye on."

She gives him a wry smile. Terrible luck seems to define the Hammersley crew perfectly at times. "So what now?"

"Now, we try and figure out a way to get you clear without blowing my cover," he replies.

"Oh, so starting small, then," she quips, before shifting in her seat. "Can I get some water?" She frowns, thinking of her crew. "My team – they'll need water as well."

He hands her a bottle, nodding. "I'll take some out to them once Luke is back. You're going to have stay on board," he says, his voice apologetic.

"What, why?"

"Your crew are less likely to try something if they think you're in danger," he says bluntly. "Listen, until we're ready to move, when you're alone with Luke, do what he says. He's volatile, and is just as likely to shoot you as he is to leave you be."

Kate nods slowly, before taking a long drink from the bottle. Her adrenaline kick seems to have faded, and her body is loudly protesting any form of movement, but the water is refreshing and perks her up a little.

"Okay, so here's what I'm thinking," he starts. They talk it over in detail, putting up ideas and vetoing others, until they have something solid planned.

"Okay," Kate says, tension seeping from her shoulders as she considers their plans. There are some parts that she doesn't like, but overall, it seems to be their best bet to getting away unharmed. She accepts the paracetamol – between her concussion and the caffeine cravings that are starting to hit, her head is killing her, and she needs her thoughts clear if they're going to get out of this.

Zack tenses as he cocks his head, as if listening for something. A second later, Kate can hear the hum of the Zodiac's engine as it draws closer to the boat. They exchange a glance.

"Showtime," he says grimly.

:::

**HMAS Hammersley**

**Location: Coral Sea**

**1053 Hours**

Nikki stands at the table, biting against the pen in her mouth. She carefully blocks out the extraneous noise of the bridge, her eyes trained on the maps in front of her. Marking out the search grid, she fills in the area that the Kingston have already covered.

"How're we looking Nav?"

"Not great, boss." She motions to where she's shaded in the completed areas. "Search grid's too wide, and factoring in the storm, we're going to have to widen it further." She looks up, her face tight. "The Kingston had to wait out the storm before starting the search, but that lost us a lot of time." She doesn't say that they'd wasted time themselves, waiting for the feds, but she wants to. What could have been more important than their crew?

"How long till we reach their last known position?"

"Still another 30-40 minutes, less if we can maintain this speed."

He nods, then turns to Charge. "Charge?"

"Sir?" He looks up from where he'd been focused on the computers. "We're good at the moment, engines are running fine."

"At the moment?"

Charge shrugs. "Well, we were due to head back to base today for maintenance, Sir."

"Right." He shakes his head. "Right. Get us there, Charge. Once we have our guys, we can go from there."

"Yes sir," Charge says, and Nikki turns back to her charts, her mind quickly falling back to factoring in sea currents and wind drift. Her frown deepens as the search grid widens, the dull blue on the paper seeming to spread. There's a lot of ground to cover, but she has faith. They'll find them.

:::


	10. Chapter 10

**an: **so this has been a long time coming. I've put a bit of an explanation in my profile for those who are interested, otherwise here is the latest part of Castaways. Hope you enjoy.

:::

**RHIB team**

**Location: Unidentified Island, Coral Sea**

**0726 hours**

Pete eyes the boat moored in the bay, squinting against the glare from the water. There's been no sign of the X since she'd been taken below deck, and the other guy, the one they called Zack, hasn't come back out.

"Hey, look," 2Dads voice breaks into his darkening thoughts, and he glances over. "They're up to something."

"What'd you think Swaino?"

"Something's stirred them up alright," Swain agrees, giving the group a dark look. "They're taking down the camp, and they're being pretty quick about it too."

The sound of the Zodiac starting up draws Pete's attention, and he tenses automatically as he watches the lone man steer the inflatable away. "Where's he going?" he mutters, almost to himself, before turning his eyes back to the group of men talking amongst themselves.

"Uh guys?" Bomber shifts in the sand next to him, her voice at a whisper. "I've got my hands loose!"

"On ya, Bomb! How'd you get out of the zip-ties?" 2Dads cranes his head back to see her hands. "Jesus Bomber, your hands!"

Pete looks over, swears when he sees the bloody smears across her hands and wrists.

"Guess my hands were numb enough that I didn't realize that I was bleeding – and then the blood just helped me slip through them." Bomber flexes her wrists, wincing. "Don't think that's going to help you guys though."

"Are there any rocks or shells nearby? Anything with an edge might be enough to shimmy through these." At Swain's words, they all look discretely around, while Bomber sifts her hands through the sand.

"There," 2Dads calls out softly. "Looks like there's a bottle just ahead of you Swain."

"Yeah, I see it."

"Can you get to it?"

Pete can hear Swain move. "No, Bomber, you're gonna have to grab it."

"Hold up guys," Pete says, stopping Bomber from sliding forward. "They're on the move."

The camp-site has been cleared – if Pete hadn't seen them there himself, he'd have said the cove was untouched from a distance. "They definitely know what they're doing." He glares at the men as they pass, his skin itching with the urge to take them down.

"They're cutting out," Pete exchanges a glance with Swain. Five of them jump into a second Zodiac and push off, the outboard engine cutting through the water at high speed. There's only a few guys left, but they're all still armed with semi-auto's.

"Bomber, you're going to have to be quick," Pete warns, watching the remaining men. They're looking towards the boat that's still moored out in the bay, the Zodiac bumping against it gently. He sees her shift into a crouch from the corner of his eye. "Go, go, go." She springs out, her arm reaching out for the bottle. "C'mon Bomber…" She drops back into place with a muffled grunt, twisting her arms behind her just as one of the men turns towards them sharply.

"Did he see her?"

Pete eyes the man, who watches them closely, before turning his back to them again. "No, we're good," he replies, feeling his muscles ache as he relaxes slightly. He's still running on adrenaline, has been since they'd had guns shoved in their faces on the beach, but he can't afford to crash right now. Keep it together, he tells himself. He needs to keep it together.

"Careful Bomber," Swain cautions her as she moves. "You'll end up cutting yourself on the glass." Even as he says the words, Bomber swears, drops the bottle end and clenches her hands together.

Pete glances back, can see the blood drip out from between her fingers and whistles lightly. "Christ Bomber, that doesn't look good."

"Doesn't feel too great either," she says before she wipes her hands on her pants, smearing blood over the dark material. "Okay, 2Dads, I'll try and get you free first. Then you can get Buffer and Swain."

"You're good Bomber," Pete tells her, watching the three men. He can hear her moving around behind him, and then apologising to 2Dads for cutting him as she tries to fit the edge between his skin and the hard plastic.

"It's alright Bomber, just keep going."

"Yeah, just a little bit…" she pauses, and Pete's muscles contract again. _Keep it together_, he repeats. "Further!"

"Way to go Bomber," Swain says from behind him. "Get some feeling back into your hands 2Dads, before you start," he advises.

"Good job Bomb, only took a couple of slices out of my hands while you were at it."

"Yeah whatever," Bomber shoots back. "Let's see how you go with Swain."

"Thanks Bomber," he replies, before he inhales sharply.

"Sorry Swaino," 2Dads says, before he tries again, grunting in frustration as the tie refuses to budge. "C'mon…"

"It's okay 2Dads, you've got it."

"Swain, can you shift this hand a little, just angle it a bit…" 2Dads trails off, "got it!"

"Okay Buff, your turn."

Pete extends his arms as much as possible behind him, while watching the drug runners. They're still talking amongst themselves, occasionally gesturing with a wild swing of their hands and guns.

When he hears the first shot, Pete thinks that someone's pulled a trigger accidentally. When the second shot fires, his eyes fly back to the boat, still moored out in the bay. Pete can hear his thoughts intensify and run together even as the sound of a third shot echoes through the air.

_Keep it together, keep it together, keepittogether. _

:::

**HMAS Hammersley**

**Location: Coral Sea**

**1123 Hours**

"Anything on the EOD, Spider?"

"Nothing boss," Billy replies, keeping his eyes trained on the little screen. He doesn't want to take the chance that he'll miss something.

"Nav, how're you going with the new search pattern?"

"Sir, if we factor in prevailing currents and what we know about the storm patterns, this is the area we need to be looking at. See these islands here? If something went wrong with the RHIB, that's where they're likely to have washed up."

"Yeah, if they didn't go down on the sinking rust bucket," Billy whips his head around just in time to see RO shrug defensively. "What, it's not like we're not all thinking it."

"RO, that is not the attitude I want to hear right now," the boss says, his voice low and a little menacing.

"Yes sir."

Billy turns back to the EOD, not wanting to draw the boss's attention. "Nav, set a new course to widen the search radius, Charge, I want a team ready to go on Thunder as soon as we have land in sight."

"Aye sir. Steer one-five-eight, revolutions two-zero-zero."

"RO, try them on the radio again. ETA Nav?"

"Another thirty, boss? If we can maintain current speed?"

"Charge?"

"Giving you all she's got boss, she'll hold."

Charge leans on the chair behind him, looking over his shoulder. "What'd you think Charge?" Billy asks quietly, hoping the boss won't hear him over RO talking on the radio. "Reckon RO's right?"

"Nah, they'll be right." Charge claps a hand on his shoulder lightly before continuing. "Probably sitting on the beach right now, enjoying the sun and surf, waiting for us to pick them up."

:::


	11. Chapter 11

**an: **sorry guys, I can write neither a normal fight nor a shootout, so you get whatever this mess is. Also thank you for the reviews so far, they're really making my day at the moment. Hope everyone's staying safe out there.

:::

**RHIB team**

**Location: Unidentified Island, Coral Sea**

**0735 hours**

Chris's heart is beating erratically, his pulse deafening as everything else around him quietens to a hush. His eyes are trained on the boat on the water, where things have been eerily quiet since the gunshots had echoed across the waves. The X is on that boat.

Angry yelling breaks through the haze, and he looks towards the group of men standing at the shoreline. They seem to be arguing amongst themselves, and he exchanges a glance with Buffer. This might just be the break they needed. Two of the men start walking towards the group, clutching at their weapons.

"Get ready."

Chris nods slightly at Buffer, his muscles tensing in anticipation. Going up against these guys isn't the best plan (they don't even _have_ a plan), but with Kate on that boat, and half of the drug-runners away from the island, they're not going to get a better chance than this. Watching as the men come closer, he nods again as Buffer claims the guy on the right, leaving the one on the left for Chris.

He takes a deep breath before springing forward to tackle the blond, crashing heavily onto the sand as he wrestles for the gun. The man strikes out, catching a glancing blow on Chris's head and he grunts, aiming his fist into the soft flesh under his ribs. The man howls, his grip turning lax as the blow to his kidney lands, and Chris takes advantage, wrenching the gun away. He kneels, quickly aiming the weapon at the man lying on the sand. "2Dads," he calls out, his eyes flying to check on Buffer, who has the situation in hand.

"I've got it Swain," the younger man says, scrambling forward to flip the man around, pulling his arms around his back. Gunfire breaks out, and Chris swears under his breath, pulling his weapon up to return fire. He can hear Buffer shooting next to him and the next thirty seconds are a haze of bullets and exploding sand. He sees one of the men go down, and then the next, and the next, until the sand has settled and his finger loosens around the trigger.

"Buffer!" Bomber's voice catches his attention and he turns to see Buffer clutching at his leg.

"I'm okay," he says, passing his gun onto Bomber. "You and Swaino need to go check on those guys, make sure they're actually down."

Chris stands cautiously and motions for Bomber to circle around. If the men aren't down, he doesn't want to provide them with an easy target. Coming up to the first man, he moves the gun out of his weak grip. His breath comes out in a wet rattle and Chris can tell that his lungs are punctured. Chris shakes his head, angry at the senseless loss of life, and looks across to Bomber. She's pulled a weapon from the crumpled figure in front of her, and has her fingers on his neck, checking for a pulse. The third man groans, and Chris darts forward, diving for the gun and knocks it away as the man tries to aim it at Bomber. Once he's disarmed the man, he checks him over, realizing that he only has a glancing wound to his arm.

"Swain?"

"Yeah, we're clear," he calls back to Buffer, pulling the man up and twisting his arm around back to keep him secure. "Bomber, can you find some restraints?" He waits until she appears with a set of zip-ties, and secures the man before he starts moving back to Buffer. His breathing is rough and he inhales slowly, trying to settle. The adrenaline is still buzzing under his skin and he feels shaky, but he focuses on his breathing, quickly coming back to an even keel.

Bomber secures the man that Buffer had been hovering over, allowing him to sit back on the sand with a grunt. "Let's take a look at that leg, hey Buff?" Chris moves his hand to the wound, relieved when he sees that it seems to be a graze. _Gunshot wounds to the thigh can be devastating – even if the bullet misses the femoral artery, the energy from the bullet can cause catastrophic damage to the vascular system_. Memories of his training kick in, and he puts pressure on the wound, eyes searching for signs of swelling or unnatural bruising appearing.

"How's it looking Swain?"

"Just a graze, luckily," he replies, giving Buffer a quick grin. "You'll get to keep your leg mate."

"You're a right comedian Swaino," Buffer shoots back before attempting to stand up.

"Hey, take it easy Buffer."

"We've got to get to the X," Buffer says in response, and this time Chris helps him to his feet. "2Dads, can you find our weapons and gear?"

"Bomber, once you're finished securing these guys, work with 2Dads to figure out where we are with ammo." Chris adds, waiting for the younger woman to nod before his eyes fell on the boat again. There hadn't been any visible movement from the boat despite the firefight that had just taken place. "What do you think Buffer?"

"It's too quiet," he says, limping forward to the shore line. "But we'll be sitting ducks in the water if we try and make it over."

"Yeah." Chris looks over the team, and gives Buffer a wry glance. "Not sure if any of us are in any condition to make it out there at the moment anyway."

"We can't just leave her out there."

"We won't." He turns back to see Bomber and 2Dads adding things to a pile on the beach. "We need to have a plan first though."

"Because planning has worked so well for us so far." Buffer huffed, running a hand over his face. "Christ, how has it only been a day?"

"Cheer up mate, it can only get better from here," Chris replies, laughing a little at the baleful glare that Buffer gives him.

"Great, that's just what we needed, thanks Swaino."

:::

**HMAS Hammersley**

**Location: Coral Sea**

**1145 Hours**

"Hands to boarding stations, hands to boarding stations," the boss calls over the tannoy, before turning to the crew on the bridge. "Charge, Nav – find our team."

"Aye sir," Charge replies.

Nikki exchanges a glance with Charge, who will be leading the search party on the RHIB, before her eyes fall on the small land mass barely visible in the distance. The depth is too shallow for the Hammersley to go in any closer, so they'll be surveilling from Thunder for now.

They make their way down to the boat deck, gearing up and meeting up with the rest of their six man team. Spider has just finished pulling on his gear, and they climb into Thunder, waiting for the RHIB to be lowered.

"Away sea boat," Charge calls and then they're off, the RHIB skimming over the water.

Nikki clutches at the binoculars she's holding, pulling them up as they come closer to the island. She looks through, searching for any sign of the other RHIB or their team.

"All clear on my side," Spider says, and Nikki groans in frustration. She can't see anything here either.

"Nothing here Charge," she says, but keeps her eyes focused as they continue around the island.

"How's it looking Charge?" The bosses voice crackles through the radio, and she can see Charge's frustration as he replies.

"Nothing here sir, no sign of Lightning or the boarding party."

"Okay Charge, continue to the next island. Hammersley will get as close as we can."

"Yes sir." Charge motions with his hand and the RHIB turns, making its way to the next island they can see. Nikki thinks back to the maps she'd pored over. The small group of islands were part of a chain, uninhabited and densely forested. If the crew have left the beach, then finding the RHIB is going to be their only chance of spotting them.

"Hold on guys," she whispered to herself. "We're coming."

:::

**an: **would love to know what you're thinking.


End file.
